do we all agree that we have a problem?” he asked.
Rumblings of agreement rippled through the room.
The senator knew they were all listening now, so he continued. “Of course. We’ve all…shall we say…taken our pleasure with her. But now the whore has become a threat to all of us, and she must be eliminated. Swiftly.”
More affirmative chatter.
“This can’t come back to bite any of us. Whatever it takes, this whole thing gets buried.”
And there it was. They were talking about murder. They all knew it, even while they were still skirting around the edges of the subject.
Only one man voiced an objection. All eyes turned to where he sat at the end of the table.
He rose to address them. He was the youngest man in the room, but he had earned their respect.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked. “What gives you the right?”
The senator shot the young man a disappointed look.
“We have no choice,” someone answered.
“You’re all afraid of some journal or diary she may be keeping. You don’t know for sure that she is,” he argued.
“She has a record of all our names and phone numbers. That’s dangerous,” said the senator.
“Isn’t it enough that she’s going away?” the young man asked.
“No, it is not enough. There are no guarantees that she won’t someday start blackmailing us,” came another response.
“If she wanted to blackmail us, she could have done that long ago. She’s never done a thing to hurt or embarrass any of us. And she has had ample opportunity,” he reminded them.
The responses stopped. Maybe there was a chance they wouldn’t have to go through with their plan. The senator knew he had to pull them back from their ambivalence, tap into their fear.
“She tried to quit before,” the senator prompted them. “She changed her mind. She may change her mind again in the future,” he suggested.
The rumbling started up again.
“Listen to me,” said the young opponent. “All she wants to do is get as far away as possible from the life she has led up until now. We trusted her to keep our secrets in the past. She has never betrayed any of us, has she?”
Looks were exchanged around the room. He was right; they had to agree. The whore was selected partially for her well-known discretion.
“I think she can be trusted to keep quiet about us.”
“And what if she’s not successful in her new life?” the senator asked.
Now they all began talking at once, sounding like an angry mob.
“She may decide it would be very profitable to write her memoirs.”
“Or sit down and have a chat with Oprah.”
“We have to act now, or these matters could come to light at a most inopportune time.”
“We could all be ruined and lose everything.”
“She’s a cancer that must be cut out.”
It was useless. They were not listening to him. The young man felt like a ghost from another time. He looked at the senator. He was not talking now but sat silently sipping his port, seeming pleased with himself that the rest had aligned with him.
The man walked over and grabbed the senator’s arm before he could raise the port to his lips again.
“This is murder you’re talking about. You’re crossing a line you will never be able to step back from.”
“We’ll risk it. The stakes are too high.” The senator broke free of the man’s grip on his arm and took a long sip of his port.
The man scanned the faces of the other men in the room and knew they had decided against him. The girl had become a threat swirling around their cherished upper-class lives. Nothing he could say was going to change their minds.
“I don’t want any part of this,” he said. “If anything happens to her, if she twists her ankle, if she breaks a nail, I promise I’ll come after you. I’ll find you, and I’ll do whatever I can to see you get the justice you deserve.”
Then he walked out.
A few attempted to stop him, but it was useless. He forced his way past them and was gone.
“Let him go,” the senator said casually. “He’ll come around. He has as much to lose as the rest of us.” The senator stood up now to address them further. “I’ll take care of it. I know someone the whore trusts. He’ll see that the problem is fixed—disposed of properly.” He sipped his port.
Then the questions started.
“Are you sure he can be trusted?”
“Yes, this man is perfect,” he assured them.
“Perfect how?”
“When it is done, he will be the perfect scapegoat. We’ll use him, then throw him away. He won’t be missed.” Another silence. “Any other questions, gentlemen?” No one spoke.
“I will make sure the whore goes away permanently. It’s extreme, but it’s the only move we have. Put your minds at ease. There will be one less of these miserable bitches to prey on our weaknesses.”
The mood in the room became jovial again. There was a tasteful round of restrained applause and the relighting of cigars.
“We will never speak of it again, and this won’t cost you a thing,” he said.
“We will be in your debt forever,” someone said casually.
“Yes, you will, won’t you…forever. I’ll let you know when and if I intend to collect on that debt.”
He raised his glass and toasted them.
“Good night, gentlemen.”
Every eye was on him as he left.
Then there was a crashing silence. The powerful men in the room let it sink in for a moment just what that debt might cost them. No one said a word. No one even blinked.
This Is Action News 10 in New Jersey…All of New Jersey All of the Time
“Good morning. I’m Michelle Tevotino. Republican Pete Moreno now has a seven percent advantage in New Jersey’s U.S. Senate campaign. The latest election poll in the Garden State shows Moreno leading Democrat challenger Clinton Kendall forty-three percent to thirty-six percent. Seven percent of voters say that they will vote for some other candidate, an independent, or write-in, and fourteen percent remain undecided in this Democratic-leaning
